​Welcome to our first look into the world of boats, rigging and everything you use to get yourself down the rowing course quicker. In this regular article we'll try to get you thinking about the tools of your trade, providing a little bit of insight from the brains of a boat builder. In this first edition we'll start with the basics, covering off all the little bits of the boat and how they make up the whole. Here's our anatomy of a rowing boat from stern to bow and everything in between. The rudder: We all know it steers the boat, but have you thought about it any further than that?  D ..read more

​We love a good rowing read in between boat builds here at SLRacing, and earlier this week World Rowing published a fantastic article about a recent study into back issues in rowing. Whether you are a rower, coach, or administrator it is a must read - providing some insight into what is causing huge percentages of the rowing population to have a back injury. We haven't had a chance to delve into the full article (you can find that by googling Dr Fiona Wilson and back injury in rowing, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine), but we did flick through the World Rowing report and Dr ..read more

The hours of training and months of effort all came to a head last week at the New Zealand Secondary School Rowing Championships. We were lucky enough to be lakeside and loved every minute of the regatta. Between some amazing rowing, a brilliant vibe and catching up with some friendly faces, it was a great week in Twizel. ​ On the water it was a fantastic week for SLRacing as well. We take a huge amount of pride in seeing any of our boats in action, and a great deal of satisfaction when they cross the line to pick up a medal. So to every rower, coach, parent and school that shared in the SLRa ..read more

As ex rowers, the SLRacing team has been through just about every New Zealand trial there is. From hungover seat racing after Uni Games, to the ruthless torture of an elite trial, we know what you are all about to go through. With U-23 and Junior trials coming up, below are some little tips we picked up along the way to make sure you put your best foot forward – no matter what the trial. Your trial starts a weeks before you get in front of selectors. Obviously you need to get good results during the season to have a chance of selection, but it's that last week before the trial that can be cr ..read more

Over the weekend we saw some amazing racing from some incredible athletes. At the same time, George Bridgewater was reflecting on his past few years pursuing his Rio Olympic dream and reality of not quite making that regatta. It's a tough transition, and the reality is more rowers experience the hard grind than that ultimate glory, so upon reading George's words we had to ask if he would let us share them on our website. Below are George's musings, they are poignant, insightful and incredibly relevant to anyone who is currently rowing and who will ultimately find themselves on another path in ..read more

The next relatively simple change that can be made is to your foot stretcher height. This has a real effect on a rowers comfort in the boat, and can be forgotten very easily. If you've ever suffered from cuts caused by the slide, or find your legs hitting the deck as you push down on your leg drive, there is a real possibility that your feet are too low in the boat. Equally, if your feet are too high in the boat, you are going to struggle to get all the length you are after at the catch. As a really basic rule of thumb, you'll be able to figure out what your shoe height should be based ..read more

In our last SLRigging article we took at a very broad look at the elements that make up a rowing boat and why you should put thought towards them (if you haven't read that article, you'll find it at http://www.slracing.co.nz/blog/rigging-the-basics and the follow up to it at http://www.slracing.co.nz/blog/rigging-for-rowing-part-2). In the next few articles, we'll drill down on those individual elements, discussing in more detail how they can affect your comfort and boat speed. First up, we want to look at your feet. The foot-stretcher is one of those parts of the rowing boat ..read more

Over the last year, along with our boats moving to the front of the field in New Zealand, SLRacing has begun to increase it's exports to Australia and beyond. In the past few weeks, our sales arm in Australia, Predator, has happily reported that the aussie market is starting to realise what we've known in NZ for a while - SLR boats are quick. Winning quick. So from all of at SLR we have to put out a big congratulations to Fleur Spriggs in particular who rowed her SLR single scull to victory in every race she took part in at the Queensland Masters Rowing Championships on May 21st & 22nd ..read more

In an earlier blog piece that was also included in Rowing NZ's Oarsport magazine we started a look at the rowing boat in general. Below is the half of the article that didn't fit on that page! The feet & the seat: We often overlook just how much impact the position of someone's feet in the boat will have on their comfort and technique. Move your feet towards the stern or bow and you'll give the rower an increased or decreased arc at the start of their stroke and vice versa at the end. At the extreme, that could mean feet near the stern with a punchy leg based rhythm, or feet to the bow w ..read more

We're going to be sitting in our usual spot overlooking the podium at Karapiro for the 2019 New Zealand Secondary School Championships. Come and see us ..read more